Sofka Zinovieff (born 1961) is a British author and journalist.

Early life

Zinovieff was born in London. Her parents were

Peter Zinovieff Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British engineer and composer. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd a ...

and Victoria Gala Heber-Percy. Her paternal grandparents were White Russians who had left

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

for the United Kingdom shortly after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...

. Zinovieff would later write a biography of her grandmother, Sofka Skipwith. Her maternal grandfather was the noted eccentric aristocrat

Robert Heber-Percy Robert Vernon Heber-Percy (5 November 1911 – 29 October 1987), known for much of his life as "the Mad Boy", was "an English eccentric in the grand tradition". Early life Heber-Percy was born in 1911, the fourth and youngest son of Algernon H ...

, whose property, including the

Faringdon House Faringdon House is a Grade I listed 14,510 square feet house in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, England. It was built in about 1770–1785 for the Poet Laureate Sir Henry James Pye. It became the country home of Lord Berners, who inherited it in 1918. ...

estate in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, she inherited at the age of 25; through him she is a descendant of

Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley Algernon Percy, 1st Earl of Beverley FSA (21 January 1750 – 21 October 1830), styled Lord Algernon Percy between 1766 and 1786 and known as the Lord Lovaine between 1786 and 1790, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 17 ...

, of the family of the

Dukes of Northumberland Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of ...

. She grew up in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

in south-west London, where her father was founder of Britain's first synthesizer manufacturer,

Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd Electronic Music Studios (EMS) is a synthesizer company formed in Putney, London in 1969 by Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell. It is now based in Ladock, Cornwall. Founders The founding partners had wide experience in both elect ...

. She studied social anthropology at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Later she gained a PhD after living and carrying out research in the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

Career

Zinovieff has worked as a journalist and book reviewer for various British publications. She has written several books, from memoirs and biographies to novels.

Works

*''Eurydice Street: A Place in Athens'' (Granta, 2004). *''Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life'' (Granta, 2007). *''The House on Paradise Street'' (Short Books, 2012). *''The Mad Boy, Lord Berners, My Grandmother and Me'' (Jonathan Cape, 2014). *''Putney'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018)

Personal life

Sofka Zinovieff has lived and worked in Russia, Italy, and has spent many years in Greece. She and her Greek husband Vassilis Papadimitriou live between Athens and London. They have two daughters.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zinovieff, Sofka Living people 1961 births British journalists British writers English people of Russian descent